In the blink of an eye, thirty-six pairs—seventy-two in total—of utterly distinct treasures flew out from the black-robed man's sleeves. They swirled through the sky in a dizzying cascade, shrouding nearly half the void beneath their canopy.
These swords, flying forks, and other magic treasures either gleamed with cold light or moved silently and eerily, as though each possessed its own sentience and a storied origin.
The black-robed man's ability to control so many treasures simultaneously spoke to a terrifyingly powerful spiritual sense—far beyond what any ordinary Spirit Integration cultivator could muster.
Han Li's mind raced as a quiet sense of admiration stirred within him.
In that brief moment, the black-robed man let out a wild laugh, and the seventy-two treasures transformed into a sky full of brilliant radiance, surging toward Han Li with unstoppable momentum.
At the sight, Han Li's eyes narrowed. With a sweep of his sleeve, dozens of small azure swords shot forth, flashing as they transformed into seventy-two arcs of azure light to meet the incoming tide of brilliance.
A rapid series of crisp "ding-dang" sounds rang out as the azure flying swords collided with the multitude of treasures, neither side yielding as they became entangled in a swirling mass.
Though the seventy-two treasures spewed clouds of black qi, unleashed thunder and fire, or crackled with lightning, the azure swords flickered in and out of visibility amid their azure glow—appearing almost ethereal, as if they were incorporeal beings passing harmlessly through the destructive energies. Like spirited serpents, they tightly coiled around the treasures without letting go, showing no signs of being at a disadvantage.
The black-robed man was slightly surprised by this. He continued to urge his treasures to shift their powers, but the efforts were clearly of little use—they remained deadlocked against the seventy-two Green Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords.
His expression turned dark. He took a sudden deep breath, strode forward, and reached a hand out toward Han Li.
With a thunderous boom, the heaven and earth spiritual energy within the entire light barrier surged violently. Then countless black threads materialized in the void, and after a quiver, they transformed into an explosion of black rays that shot forward.
Where the black rays passed, the entire expanse of void dimmed. In a flash, they arrived eerily before Han Li.
"Come!"
Han Li's expression remained composed. With a low shout, he swept one hand before him, and a patch of gray misty radiance materialized out of thin air. It then condensed, forming a solid wall of gray light.
Like a deluge, the black rays pierced into the light wall and froze within it, one after another.
Han Li raised an eyebrow and pressed a palm black as ink against the wall of light.
With a flash of spiritual light, the wall erupted with blinding gray radiance.
Muffled booms erupted in rapid succession!
The black threads trapped within the light wall exploded one after another, transforming into wisps of black smoke that were swept away by the gray radiance until they vanished without a trace.
"The Magnetic Divine Light!" The black-robed man's pupils contracted at the sight, and he couldn't help but cry out.
But in the next instant, his expression grew grave. He gave his shoulders a shake, and a vast expanse of dark, abyssal mist surged from behind him.
All the mist condensed above his head, forming an enormous black greatsword.
The front half of the blade was solid and dense, as though it were a physical object, while the rear half was hazy and blurred, shrouded in indistinct fog.
Yet the mere tremble of the sword's tip caused a black sphere of light to materialize from thin air, emitting a low, resonant hum.
"Go!"
The black-robed man formed hand seals and solemnly pointed at the greatsword hovering in the sky.
The black sphere of light flashed and shot forth from the sword's tip—initially only the size of a fist, but after several flickers it expanded to a diameter of over a zhang, hurtling toward Han Li like a colossal black boulder.
Where it passed, the void twisted and blurred, leaving behind a faint trail of dark light.
This black sphere of light possessed the terrifying power to tear through space itself.
Even more alarming, identical black spheres fired from the greatsword one after another. In the blink of an eye, seven or eight of them flew out in a string.
"Worthy of a mid-stage cultivator—truly extraordinary powers!" Far from alarmed, Han Li actually laughed at the sight.
He raised one arm, and from his other sleeve, a palm as white as snow emerged, swiftly pressing against the black palm at his chest.
A thunderous crash, like metal striking metal, rang out. A small black mountain and a small green mountain materialized above his head in response. Then they spun in a circle, and two muffled "poof" sounds followed.
A ring of azure light and a ring of black qi emanated from the peaks, intertwining and flashing until they merged into a massive black-and-azure ring that shielded Han Li within.
At that moment, the first black sphere struck the great ring directly.
A deafening explosion. Azure and black light erupted in a violent burst.
The void where the explosion occurred collapsed inward, forming a massive black hole.
As the second, third, and subsequent spheres plunged in one after another, the black hole instantly expanded to more than ten times its original size, nearly blanketing the entire sky above the stone platform and swallowing Han Li along with the great ring into endless darkness.